House votes to overhaul patent system

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As a software patent holder...

I have some real mixed feelings here. The truth is, the patent system has been good to me and my small company. In fact if it were not for the patent system some large comany would have ran us down and left us as road kill long ago.

But with all of that said, I am beginning to question the entire concept of patenting software concepts or ideas. I could lay out a ton of analogies and even real world examples why software patents are causing the reverse result desired, more innovation. I think the key thing to hang on to here is that patents are meant to spur innovation, not make mega-corps more money or create patent holding houses that innovate and contribute nothing.

As I look at the problem the solutions seem simple enough (at least to me) but it would create panic for corporate patent holders and the entire legal ecology built around them. Let me explain the changes I would like to see.

1. Implement an escalating cost for each patent. Lets say filing the first patent each year costs $5,000. That is a small enough figure that the small company or independent could afford to do it *if* they had an idea worth patenting. The second patent filed in the same year would cost $10,000, the third would be $20,000, forth equals $40,000 and it just keeps going. The result would be that the 10th patent filed would cost $2,560,000. Even a large company is going to think very hard about filing 50 or a 100 or more patents a year for "just in case".

2. Software patents should have a life of no more than 5 years for any reason. No extentions. If indeed the idea of a patent is to promote innovation and give the invetor a chance at seeing a return on his/her investment then 5 years in the software world is more than enough to accomplish that. The flip side of that is that if the idea was not able to generate a return on the investment in that time, it is questionable that it should have ever been granted a patent.

3. Must defend. Patents should be treated the same way a trademark is. When the holder knows it is being violated they hold a responsibility to defend it immediately. Put an end to the "submarine patent" that comes out years after something has become widely used.

4. Software patents must be renewed on an annual basis with an ever increasing fee. If it's a good idea/concept and has a value, then the holder would surely be willing to spend the money for renewal. If it's value doesn't justify the cost of renewal then it hardly deserves patent protection.

5. Within two years of recieving a patent, it MUST be implemented in a product offered in the market, or the patent is automatically dropped. It makes no sense to allow me (or anyone) to file a patent on say Artificial Intelegence based on Quantum Mechanics with the idea that someone will do it someday and I'll get paid big time. (thats a huge issue with the first to file idea)

6. Finally, establish a patent *court* where litigants are not allowed to drag the legal process out for years. Say a rule on the court that says that within one year of a patent suit being filed the court MUST rule. Hey, if your lawyer is not good enough to lay out his/her argument in a year then you deserve to lose.

There ya go, my solution to making the patent system what it was intended, a driving force behind innovation.

Posted by: No_Ax_to_Grind   Posted on: 09/09/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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